Shinners Bridge House

Summary

A 17th-century farmhouse, adapted in the 19th century and remodelled in 1928–29 by the Dartington estate architect Rex Gardner for Roger Morel, manager of the cider farm on the site. Shinners Bridge House and the surrounding buildings played a significant role in the Elmhirsts’ Dartington Experiment, first as a centre of experimental cider production and later as the hub of the estate’s retail operations. Retaining significant historic fabric, with crafted 1920s interiors and strong associations with the estate’s agricultural and cultural history, the house retains a good deal of interest.

Reasons for Designation

Shinners Bridge House is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* as a distinguished evolved C17 farmhouse retaining a significant proportion of fabric from this early period;
* for the sensitive adaptation and craftsmanship demonstrated in the interior remodelling of the 1920s by estate architect Rex Gardner.

Historic interest:
* for its role within the development of the Dartington Estate, first as a Champernowne farmhouse and later as part of the Elmhirsts’ Dartington Experiment, which embraced innovative approaches to agriculture, craft, and community;
* as the home of Roger Morel, manager of the centre of experimental cider production in the 1930s;
* for its later association with the estate’s retail operations, including the establishment of the Cider Press Centre, which broadened Dartington’s cultural and economic influence in the later 20th century.

Group value:
* for its contribution to the ensemble of heritage assets on the Dartington Hall estate, including the Grade I Hall, numerous other listed buildings, and the Grade II* Registered Park and Garden, together illustrating the layered evolution of the estate over many centuries.

History

At the centre of the Dartington Hall Estate are the surviving parts of the great C14 medieval house (listed Grade I, wider area scheduled), which was almost derelict by the time it was purchased by Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst in 1925 from the Champernowne family, who had owned the estate since 1559. The Elmhirsts set about using their substantial wealth to renovate Dartington Hall, beginning The Dartington Experiment, an ambitious programme of rural regeneration based on modern methods of agriculture and forestry, progressive education, arts and literature. Under their patronage, Dartington became a magnet for émigré artists, craftspeople, thinkers, musicians, dancers and actors during the interwar period, and it developed into a vibrant cultural community and a centre of innovation and influence. The couple made Dartington their home for the rest of their lives.

Shinners Bridge House was probably built by the Champernownes in the C17 as an estate farmhouse near the Totnes road. Early C19 estate accounts record it as part of the Barton Farm leaseholding of W. H. Watson, and the 1840 tithe map shows the house surrounded by market gardens and orchards extending towards the kilns and quarry to the east and north. By 1880, the First Edition Ordnance Survey map depicts a formal open courtyard farmstead to the west of the farmhouse, which by then had acquired a double-depth plan.

From 1927, the Elmhirsts began redeveloping the estate lands at this prominent road junction in order to diversify activity and production. Shinners Bridge Farm was converted into a cider mill, while craft enterprises were established nearby: a pottery run by Bernard Leach and his son was built close to the kilns and quarry, a textile department with a new water mill was founded further east, and a sawmill was erected across the road to serve the estate’s expanding forestry operations. In 1928, Shinners Bridge Farm became a dedicated cider farm and Shinners Bridge House was adapted by the estate architect Rex Gardner for the use of Roger Morel, manager of the farm and later the Orchards Department. Gardner, trained in the Arts and Crafts tradition under the furniture designers and makers Stanley Parker, at Letchworth, and Ernest Gimson. He introduced finely crafted details, notably the hand-finished timber staircase and gallery. It is said he personally undertook some of the masonry, including the fireplaces. As part of the remodelling, the windows to the north elevation were reinstated, and a lean-to porch added.

The surrounding farm buildings were adapted for cider production and storage, with further land planted as orchards. Morel began experimenting with apple juice production in 1935, and in 1936 three high-pressure storage tanks, the first of their kind in Britain, were installed. Although the products achieved a good reputation and won prizes at agricultural shows, the enterprise declined from the early 1940s, and the mill closed in 1952. By then, an adult education centre had been established at Shinners Bridge, and the focus shifted towards retailing estate produce and crafts. The Retail Shop (not listed), established in the former Craftsmen’s Studio near the limekilns to the east, was fashioned from exhibition stalls salvaged from the Bristol and West Show by Gardner. The shop sold tweeds and rugs from Dartington Tweed Mill as well as work by local wood turners, blacksmiths, and potters.

Under the management of Barbara Jewell, the Retail Shop prospered and expanded into Shinners Bridge House in 1970, where Jewell also established a tea shop and took up residence. In 1974 further C19 farm buildings, including the cider press house, were converted for retail use. Following Jewell’s retirement in 1976, further alterations and extensions were made to the shops to form the Cider Press Centre. The buildings have continued to evolve in the C21 and are not listed. Shinners Bridge House is now in use as estate administration offices.

Details

A house, formerly a farmhouse now used as offices and of probable C17 origin. Extended in the C19, remodelled in 1928-9 by Rex Gardner for Roger Morel, and subsequently adapted into offices.

MATERIALS: constructed of local limestone rubble with a slate roof,
hipped and gabled at the ends. The interior features oak and elm joinery, notably a staircase and gallery, aw well as stop-chamfered beams.

PLAN: an evolved double-depth plan of two storeys plus attic, with three principal rooms to the south front overlooking Bidwell Brook. A historic addition to the rear single depth range was opened out during the 1929 remodelling to incorporate an open well staircase and gallery. The front addition sits beneath a double-span gabled roof, with a third gabled addition to the left. At the west end of the ground floor, a kitchen opens into an adjacent restaurant, originally a north/south orientated barn (not included).

EXTERIOR: the south elevation has a triple gabled front with three casements. The first-floor central and right-hand windows occupy chamfered openings with large, deeply chamfered timber lintels with mason's mitres and hoodmoulds. The corresponding ground-floor windows are wider and have concrete lintels, while the left-hand ground-floor window has been converted to a French window. The first-floor window above has a concrete lintel. All windows have C20 metal frames with leaded panes.

Set back to the right, the front of the rear range is exposed, featuring a large lateral stack with a set-off, slate capping, and shaft. The rear (north) range has asymmetrical fenestration, concrete-mullioned windows and C20 metal frame casements with leaded panes. The C20 stone porch to the left of centre has distinctively shaped timber braces.

INTERIOR: as remodelled by Rex Gardner in 1928-9, the interior has replacement oak ceiling beams and internal partitions. The principal entrance is through the former rear (north) elevation within a porch, facing the forecourt .

In the entrance hall, part of the floor was removed to accommodate a substantial oak and elm staircase along the wall, galleried to the first floor and attic, and open to the roof. The east wall of the entrance hall displays exposed close studs to the roof apex. Adjacent to the entrance hall, the rear room features a plain stone fireplace with a stone hearth, above which a stone corbel supports a substantial chamfered cross beam and two transverse stop-chamfered beams. Beneath the east window is a timber seat with raised shelves at each end, while the north window has a plain plank window seat.

The principal room south-facing room has window seats in the splayed openings and a large fireplace on the right wall, with a massive slate lintel, chamfered soffit, and stone rubble jambs. The central cross beam is stop-chamfered and rests on stone corbels at both ends. Some first-floor rooms retain fireplaces and window seats. The roof has collars that are lapped and pegged to the faces of the straight principals.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

101064

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cherry, B, Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Devon, (2004), 319
Bonham-Carter, V, Dartington Hall - The Formative Years: 1925-57, (1970), 24 & 35
Young, M, The Elmhirsts of Dartington, (1996), 302 & 304

Websites
Dartington Eastate: Barabara Jewell, accessed 31/07/2025 from https://www.dartington.org/our-history/people/barbara-jewell

Other
Dartington Hall Trust Archive: T/EST/S/25/A/15/1 – 31; T/EST/S/25/B/3

End of official list entry

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